Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) &
RARP
The mechanism of mapping high-level
addresses to Physical addresses is called as
the Address Resolution
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Overview
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Introduction
When ARP is used?
Types of ARP message
ARP Message Format
Example use of ARP
ARP cache
ARP Types
RARP
Introduction
• low level network protocol
• operates at Layer 2/3 of the OSI model which is
usually implemented in the device drivers of
network operating systems.
• used by the Internet Protocol (IP), specifically
IPv4, to map IP network addresses to the
hardware addresses used by a data link protocol.
LAN Address
• MAC address allocation administered by IEEE
• manufacturer buys portion of MAC address space (to assure
uniqueness)
• Analogy:
(a) MAC address: like Social Security Number
(b) IP address: like postal address
• MAC flat address => portability
– can move LAN card from one LAN to another
• IP hierarchical address NOT portable
– depends on network to which one attaches
ARP and RARP
• The ARP and RARP protocols perform the translation
between IP addresses and MAC layer addresses
• We will discuss ARP for broadcast LANs, particularly Ethernet
LANs
IP address
(32 bit)
ARP
RARP
Ethernet MAC
address
(48 bit)
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ARP (RFC826) and RARP (RFC903)
• ARP
– ARP provides a dynamic mapping from an IP address
to the corresponding hardware address.
– It is dynamic since it happens automatically and is
normally not a concern of either the application user or
the system administrator.
• RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol)
– RARP is used by systems without a disk drive but
requires manual configuration by the system
administrator.
Address Resolution Techniques
• Depends on protocol and hardware addressing
scheme
• Table look-up
– Binding or mappings are stored in a table in memory,
which the software searches when it needs to resolve an
address
• Closed-form computation
– Computer’s hardware address can be computed from the
protocol address using basic Boolean and arithmetic
operations
• Message exchange
– Computers exchange messages across a network to
resolve an address
Address Translation with ARP (uses table look-up)
ARP Request:
Broadcasts an ARP request to all stations on the network:
“What is the hardware address of Router137?”
Argon
128.143.137.144
00:a0:24:71:e4:44
Router137
128.143.137.1
00:e0:f9:23:a8:20
ARP Request:
What is the MAC address
of 128.143.71.1?
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Address Translation with ARP
ARP Reply:
Router 137 responds with an ARP Reply which contains the
hardware address
Argon
128.143.137.144
00:a0:24:71:e4:44
Router137
128.143.137.1
00:e0:f9:23:a8:20
ARP Reply:
The MAC address of 128.143.71.1
is 00:e0:f9:23:a8:20
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ARP operation
Types Of Message
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There are four types of ARP messages:
ARP request
ARP reply
RARP request
RARP reply
These are identified by four values in the
“operation" field of an ARP message.
Encapsulation of ARP packet
ARP Packet Format
Ethernet II header
Destination
address
Source
address
Type
0x8060
6
6
2
ARP Request or ARP Reply
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10
Hardware type (2 bytes)
Hardware address
length (1 byte)
Padding
CRC
4
Protocol type (2 bytes)
Protocol address
length (1 byte)
Operation code (2 bytes)
Source hardware address*
Source protocol address*
Target hardware address*
Target protocol address*
* Note: The length of the address fields is determined by the corresponding address length fields
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ARP Packet fields
• HARDWARE TYPE: specifies type of hardware interface for which the
request is made (e.g., 1 for Ethernet)
• PROTOCOL TYPE: specifies high level protocol address supplied in
message (e.g. 0800 hex for IP)
• HLEN and PLEN: specify length of fields for hardware address and
protocol address respectively
• OPERATION: specifies if this is an ARP request or reply message (1 for
ARP request, 2 for ARP response, 3 for RARP request and 4 for RARP
response)
• HA and IP: hardware and IP addresses respectively
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Use of ARP in four cases
•Address mapping must be performed at each
step along a path from the original source to the
ultimate destination.
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Example
•A host with IP address 130.23.43.20 and physical address
B2:34:55:10:22:10 has a packet to send to another host
with IP address 130.23.43.25 and physical address
A4:6E:F4:59:83:AB. The two hosts are on the same
Ethernet network. Show the ARP request and reply packets
encapsulated in Ethernet frames.
Solution ARP request and reply
Caching ARP Responses
• Three packets traverse the network for each ARP transmission
• Since sending an ARP request/reply for each IP datagram is
inefficient and to reduce network traffic, ARP software on hosts
maintain a table of current entries. The entries expire after
specified time period so that no stale entries are found.
Soft state (???) (adv and disadv???)
• ARP manages the table as a cache
• ARP uses the binding( if present ) without transmitting a
request
• If binding is not present
– ARP broadcasts a request
– Waits for a response
– Updates the cache
– Proceeds to use the binding
ARP Cache
• Essential to the efficient operation of ARP is the
maintenance of an ARP cache on each host.
• arp command: The –a option displays all entries in the
cache.
ARP MODULE
•ARP Module involves five modules: a cache table, queues, an output
module, an input module, and a cache-control module.
•Cache Table
•Queues
•Output Module
•Input Module
•Cache-Control Module
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ARP components
QUEUES
• ARP maintains a set of Queues – one for each destination, to hold
the IP packets while ARP tries to resolve the Hardware address.
• Packets for the same destination are enqueued in the same queue.
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Original cache table used for examples
Proxy ARP - Process where one system responds
to the ARP request of another system.
• Proxy ARP: Host or router responds to ARP Request that
arrives from one of its connected networks for a host that is
on another of its connected networks.
•Advantage : simplicity; Disadvantage: scalability & security.
Proxy ARP
• Proxy ARP lets a router answer ARP requests on one of its
networks.
– This fools the sender of the ARP request into thinking that
the router is the destination host, when in fact the
destination host is "on the other side" of the router.
– The router is acting as a proxy agent for the destination
host, relaying packets to it from other hosts.
Gratuitous ARP - occurs when a host sends an ARP
request looking for its own IP address.
– This is usually done when the interface is configured
at bootstrap time or for detecting if an IP address has
already been assigned.
– Used when a host machine’s network interface
corrupts, and need to be changed, the machine
informs the other machine to let them update the
change in their table.
– Used by host to determine whether another host is
also configured with its IP address.
– Sent with S and D address being the same. The other
machines respond as if it was a normal ARP request.
TTL value of cache entry
• The TTL period varies from system to system, usually from 2 to
20 minutes, and will increase to a greater
number of minutes if more data from these temporary entries is
requested within the allotted TTL period.
The TTL period for
• windows NT has a default of two minutes,
• windows 2000 has a default of 10 minutes,
• and solaris has a default of 5 minutes.
• ARP caches of routers can be much longer -The cisco IOS
router having a cache time of 4 hours.
• For some computers, entries that are static usually remain on
the cache table permanently or until the computer is rebooted.
The TTL periods can be adjusted on most systems as well.
Summary
• Used to find the physical address of a target device on the local physical
network, given only the target’s IP address
• Mechanism:
– The source broadcasts a special packet asking the device with target IP
address to respond with a message carrying the (IP address, physical
address) mapping
– All devices on the local physical network receive the broadcast, but only the
target recognizes its IP address and responds to the request. The other
devices updates the information about the source machine in their cache.
– When the source receives the reply, it sends the packet to the target using the
target’s physical address and places the mapping in its cache (a cache is used
to prevent repeated broadcasts for the same destination)
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Summary
• ARP refinements
– Source includes its <IP address, physical address> mapping in
the ARP request anticipating the target’s need for it in the near
future. This avoids extra network traffic
• When all machines receive the ARP request broadcast, they can
store the address mapping in their cache. ?(Do they? And Why?)
• ARP is used when an IP to physical address mapping changes to
notify hosts on the network of the change
• ARP messages are encapsulated in MAC frames. A special value in
the type field of the frame is used to indicate that it is carrying an
ARP message (0806h is used for ARP)
• Entries in the local ARP cache for each host time out after a certain
period
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Summary
• ARP is a basic protocol in almost every TCP/IP
implementation, but it normally does its work without the
application or the system administrator being aware.
• Hides the physical layer addressing.
• ARP along with specialized versions
– Proxy ARP
– Gratuitous ARP
Vulnerabilities of ARP
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Since ARP does not authenticate requests or replies, ARP requests and replies can be
forged.
ARP is stateless. ARP replies can be sent without a corresponding ARP request.
According to ARP protocol specification, a node receiving an ARP packet ( REQUEST or
Reply) must update its local ARP cache with the information in the source fields, if the
receiving node already has an entry for the IP address of the source in its ARP cache. (This
applies for ARP request packets and for ARP reply packets)
Typical exploitation of these vulnerabilities:
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A forged ARP request or reply can be used to update the ARP cache of a remote system
with a forged entry( ARP poisoning)
This can be used to redirect IP traffic to other hosts.
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?
1. What happens if an ARP Request is made for a non
existing host?
2. Where is ARP cache table stored?
ANS:
1.Several ARP requests are made with increasing time intervals
between requests. Eventually, ARP gives up.
2.Stored in RAM and are lost at restart/shutdown but not at logoff.
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RARP
•The RARP request packets are
broadcast;
the RARP reply packets are
unicast.
RARP packet
•Encapsulation of RARP packet
Alternative Solutions to RARP
•When a diskless computer is booted, it needs
more information in addition to its IP address. It
needs to know its subnet mask, the IP address of
a router, and the IP address of a name server.
RARP cannot provide this extra information.
New protocols have been developed to provide
this information. Protocols BOOTP and DHCP
can be used instead of RARP.